Three to Beam Up
by Sousakuka-sama
Summary: Missing scene from the Empath, after the Vyanns disappear with Gem but before we next see Kirk, Spock & McCoy on the bridge.


**Three to Beam Up**

**Rating: G**

**Category: Scifi, smarm, missing scene**

**Summary: What happened after the Vyanns disappeared with Gem, but before Kirk, Spock and McCoy beamed aboard the _Enterprise_?**

**Warnings: None. Light smarminess, which "the Empath" easily inspires.**

**Stardate 2269**

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm glad that's over," Dr. McCoy sighed, slowly pushing himself up. Gem may have taken away the actual injuries, but he still had a hell of a headache and he ached all over.

In an instant, both Kirk and - surprisingly - Spock were at his elbow, lending helping hands. He batted them off, saying, "I'm all right!"

"You weren't 'all right' a few minutes ago, Bones," Kirk pointed out quietly. McCoy looked guiltily at Kirk. Truthfully, he hadn't expected to live long enough to see Kirk or Spock's reactions to his descision, and, now that he was alive, well, and standing before them, he suddenly felt like a guilty schoolboy.

"Jim - " McCoy began, but Kirk waved him off. "Don't," Kirk said softly. "I don't want to hear it. I...I understand, I do, honestly."

"Well, in any case," McCoy stressed, "I am sorry for knocking you out like that. You too, Spock."

"You're actions, though unethical, are highly admirable, doctor." Spock replied in a low voice.

McCoy ducked his head, fiddling with his tricorder. "Well? Are we going to just stand around here all day?"

Kirk paused, gazing at his old friend, thinking on bygone days - these past two-and-a-half years on the _Enterprise_, their first meeting - God, could it be nearly fifteen years ago? He'd almost lost him, in a foolish, brash, wonderfully brave and selfless act. It was a quieting thought. And, considering what Bones had done, it was quite humbling also.

McCoy realized he was not only under the close, soft-eyed scrutiny of the captain, but Spock as well.

Spock didn't want to admit to emotion, even now. He had trouble enough just around Jim, his best friend (even if he only admitted Jim to being so to himself, and even then it was in a deep, secret place hidden away in his human half). But around the doctor, who he still stoically refused to admit as a friend - at least not yet - and instead simply partook in the doctor's frequent sparring matches with a liking and fondness that bordered on affection. However, the events of the past half-hour brought all this to head and even he had to bow to the fact he'd felt a great sense of loss and sadness when he'd told Jim that the doctor would die. Had he been completely human, it would have been impossible to say. Even when his Vulcan half said it, his inner human half cried at the words. Now...now, in that same secret place reserved previously for Jim and his parents - and Sybok - alone, he allowed the doctor in as well. And then he swiftly closed and locked away that secret place, back into the shadows, hidden, where it resided.

Uncomfortable with the stares of his two closest friends, McCoy asked again, "Well?!"

Kirk's mouth quirked slightly, and though he grabbed his communicator, he didn't open it quite yet. Instead, he reached out and, for a brief moment, embraced Dr. McCoy, blinking back tears and promising himself to no longer take things, like the steady friendship of the two men beside him, for granted. Who knows when fate and situations such as these could suddenly rip one - or, unbearabe as it was to think of, both - of them away from him?

Spock turned away slightly in respect for the captain's sudden show of all-too-human emotion, but actually wasn't bothered by it. He almost - almost - longed to do the same. McCoy, surprised at first, finally returned the hug for the shortest of seconds before stepping away, turning around so they couldn't see him hurriedly scrub his eyes.

Kirk flipped open the communicator and said in a strong, clear voice that gave no hint of the emotional battles they'd all been through in the past thirty minutes, "Kirk to _Enterprise_..._Three_...to beam up."

And Captain James T. Kirk, Spock of Vulcan and Doctor Leonard H. McCoy hoped there'd be "three to beam up" for a long time to come.

**Finis.**


End file.
